Yesterday was a nice day. Our dear friend Pierr (who illustrated Christine's last Children's Picture Book) is staying with us for a week. We decided to hike in Miller Canyon (Arizona) to look for the Spotted Owls. (It is also a great hummingbird spot). Miller Canyon is about an hour an a half from us. The hike is through the Coronado State Forest in the Huachuca Mountains. While the trail is wide, it is essential a continuously steep climb. We had seen the Spotted Owl there before. This time though, we needed to climb about a mile further than before. After a couple of miles, we decided to turn back to get a different angle on the return, that maybe we missed him. That was the trick. About 100 yards after we turned around we saw him. He was on the downward side of the trail, in a tree about 15 feet off the ground. But since he was downhill, the owl was nearly level with the trail. The first photo is from the point where we first saw him. The second photo was further down the trail about 15 yards where, sitting down I could be eyeball to eyeball with him. He pretty much slept undisturbed, with an occasional peek at us. We enjoyed how beautiful he looked for about 20 minutes, then said thank you, leaving him to sleep again.
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